American waistlines are apparently becoming too large for conventional
cancer therapy, which means poison doses need to increase in order to
achieve the same treatment outcomes. This is according to a new study
recently published in the American Society of Clinical Oncology's (ASCO)
Journal of Clinical Oncology, which recommends that the
guidelines for treating obese adult cancer patients be expanded to allow
for the administration of higher doses of toxic chemotherapy.

As reported by USA Today, researchers from the country's largest organization of doctors who treat cancer are adamantly pushing for more
chemotherapy to treat those whom they claim are "under-treated," mainly
larger individuals who do not meet the standard dosage criteria for
chemotherapy. According to their assessment, the survival rate among
obese cancer patients is lower than it is among the standard weight
population, a direct result of not receiving enough chemotherapy, they
claim.

You can think of it kind of like the late McDonald's
"Supersize" ordering option, except instead of a Double Quarter Pounder
with fries and a drink, a cancer patient gets an extra large order of
cytotoxic drugs. Existing guidelines prevent oncologists from
administering more than the set amount of chemotherapy -- many are also
looking out for their patients' health, as chemotherapy is devastatingly
toxic -- but these could soon change.

Gary Lyman, an oncologist
at Duke University in North Carolina, and others who headed the advisory
panel that recently issued these new guidelines insist that higher chemotherapy
doses will benefit the obese population with cancer. Everything from
breast, colon and lung cancers to blood diseases like leukemia can be
better treated with higher doses of chemotherapy, they claim, even
though the size of patients' bodily organs is still roughly the same.

More chemotherapy means more profits for the cancer industry

Such injurious and reckless advice is hardly surprising, as ASCO is
heavily vested in modalities like chemotherapy that are the bread and
butter of the conventional cancer industry. Even so, the group says many
obese patients
receive less than 85 percent of what has been deemed an appropriate dose
of chemotherapy for their respective weight and that doctors need to be
allowed to recommend a full weight-based dose.

What this all means, of course, is even higher profits for the cancer
industry, which already rakes in more than $200 billion annually
according to the most recent estimates. Considering that about 60
percent of Americans are now considered to be overweight, and 30 percent
obese, this translates into a revenue boost of considerable measure,
especially due to the fact that cancer cells flock to fat tissue.

"It's
like a playground, an amusement park, for cancer cells when you're
fat," said Robin McRath, a floral designer from Michigan who had
previously been diagnosed with breast cancer, to the Associated Press. McRath, who weighs about 240 pounds, reportedly underwent full-dose chemotherapy for her weight and still survived.

Healthesound.info

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